Explain the following maxims:

a) Precedent case
Precedent is a legal principle or rule that is created by a court decision. It is also known as the
past decisions. This decision becomes an example, or authority, for judges deciding similar
issues late. To show that your constitutional rights have been violated, you point to good
court decisions in earlier cases and describe how the facts in those cases are similar to the
facts in your case. Generally, decisions of higher courts (within a particular system of courts)
are mandatory precedents on lower courts within that system. That means the principle
announced by a higher court must be followed in later cases. As a practical matter, courts can
usually find precedent for any direction they want to go in deciding a particular case.
Accordingly, precedent is used often to justify a particular outcome in a case as it is used to
guide the decision. The body of judicial decisions includes the points used to formulate and
decide a case in a court of law. Precedents can only be useful when they show that the case
has been decided upon a certain principle and ought not to be binding when contrary to such
a principle. If a precedent is to be followed because it is a precedent, even when decided
against an established rule of law, there can be no possible correction of abuses because the
fact of their existence renders them above the law. It is always safe to rely on principles.